Month: March 2023

First Lady Aisha Buhari, President, Africa First Ladies Peace Mission (AFLPM), says women in Africa have contributed immensely to promotion of peace across the continenet.

A statement by Suleiman Haruna, the Head of Information in her office, on Saturday in Abuja, disclosed that Buhari said this during a visit of the AU delegates.

The delegation was on visit to assess work at the AFLPM Secretariat in Abuja.

She said the meeting was to outline areas where AU can support the mission to strengthen its institutional capacity in line with its core mandate.

The Chairperson of the AU Commission, Moussa Mahmat, expressed confidence in the leadership role of Buhari in steering the affairs of the mission.

Mahmat, represented Mr Adeoye Bankole, expressed the AUs commitment to support the activities of the mission towards providing solutions to issues of peace and development in Africa.

During the visit, the AU delegation commended the level of the work at the secretariat and promised to support the mission towards actualising its mandate.

Buhari was elected as the ninth president of the AFLPM at its ninth general assembly in Abuja in 2021.(NAN) (www.nannews.ng).

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Petro de Luanda took an important step in the Angola Cup, in senior men’s basketball, by beating B Team by 93-71, in the quarter-finals’ first leg.

At the halftime, Petro de Luanda were already winning by 53-33.

Petro de Luanda, led by coach José Neto, in the third and last period surpassed the opponents coached by Manuel da Silva by 86-56 (3rd), and in the 4th, by 93-71.

Carlos Morais, from Petro de Luanda, was the best scorer, with 21 points, followed by his teammate, Abubakar Gakou, with 19.

On the B Team side, Valdir Manuel and Antony Jimafo were the top scorers, with 10 points each.

Still today, 1º de Agosto also took a big step towards the semi-final, by defeating 1º de Agosto B, by 125-84, and Atlético Sport Aviação (ASA) over Jesus Christ Basketball, 102-84.

The last match of the quarter-finals between Interclube and Casa do Pessoal of Porto do Lobito, was postponed without date, because the opponents of the second team did not arrive in Luanda in time.

The second round of this final phase, scheduled for Saturday, in which Petro B (B Team) will play as home team, at the ISPTEC pavilion, against Petro de Luanda.

1.º de Agosto B, at 3 pm, will host 1.º de Agosto (main team) at the Victorino Cunha pavilion, and Jesus Cristo Basketball play ASA, at 3 pm, at the Dream Space pavilion.

Petro de Luanda hold the trophy (2021/2022).

The teams scored as follows:

Petro de Luanda – Gerson Domingos (4 points), Carlos Morais (21), Teotónio Dó (10), Gerson Gonçalves (12), Danian Hollis (08), Childo Dundão (5), Jone Pedro (7), José António (1), Glofate Buiamba (06) and Abubakar Gakou (19).

Coach: José Neto

Petro B – Francisco do Rosário (6), Martins António (4), Miguel Yimbu (2), Anastoli Inácio (5), Edmilson Andrade (5), Eduardo Simão (5), José Nseka (6), Gelson Varandas (8), Aloísio Andrade (4), Antony Jimafo (10), Valdir Manuel (10) and Elcane Peca (6).

Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)

The minister of Agriculture and Forestry, António Francisco de Assis, said Wednesday in the Municipality of Cela, Cuanza-Sul Province, that Angola needs to produce over 10 million tons of maize per year to achieve internal tranquility.

The minister made the statements, while assessing the implementation of the family farming project promoted by group Carrinho in that locality of the country.

“We estimated that, for this harvest, we will be able to produce, at least, in what concerns corn, more than 5 million tons. It is good, but it is not enough for our ambitions. We will only begin to have internal tranquility, when we are able to produce over 10 million tons of corn per year”, said the minister.

The figures provided by the minister clarify an incorrect information published by ANGOP, according to which Angola would stop importing maize this year.

In Cela Municipality, the Carrinho Agri group controls 3,900 families that are producing 4,960 hectares.

The group carries out this activity in six provinces of the country, namely Cuanza Sul, Huíla, Benguela, Bié, Huambo and Malanje.

The amount invested in the project to boost agriculture in the family sector was not disclosed, however the minister said that it has been underway for over a year.

The group Carrinho is represented in 51 municipalities and controls around 58,000 producers and aims to reach an overall 150,000.

Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in Jigawa has disengaged some ad hoc personnel for incompetency and lackadaisical attitude during the Feb. 25 Presidential and National Assembly election.

The Resident Electoral Commissioner, Prof. Muhammad Bashar said this at a media interactive session on Friday in Dutse.

The thrust of the session was to discuss level of the Commission’s preparedness ahead of the Saturday’s Governorship and State Assembly election in the state.

However, the REC could not gave the exact figure of the ad hoc staff affected by the exercise.

Bashar said the Commission had successfully rescreened the ad hoc workers after the Presidential and National Assembly election, to ascertain those who were unable to perform duties efficiently and quickly replaced them before the March 18 election.

INEC, he said, adopted proactive measures to address challenges and glitches experienced during the Feb. 25 election.

He said that 4,522 Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), sensitive and non-sensetive materials had been deployed to the 27 local government areas of the state for successful conduct of the election.

“I want to assure that INEC is fully prepared for the conduct of the governorship election in the state.

“We’ve put in place all the facilities needed to conduct successful Governorship and State Assembly election tomorrow, the 18th of March 2023.

“The BVAS deployed were fully reconfigured and tested. I assure that there will be no hitches as experienced in the last elections,” he said.

According to him, a total of 2,292,372 eligible voters are expected to vote in the elections at 4,519 polling units across the state.

Bashir also assured residents of the state of free, fair, credible and hitch free election. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria

Gov. Mai Mala Buni of Yobe has urged the people of the state to conduct themselves peacefully during Saturday’s Governorship and House of Assembly elections in the state .

Buni made the appeal in a statement issued by Mr Mamman Mohammed, Director- General, Press and Media Affairs to the Governor, on Friday in Damaturu.

The governor noted that Yobe remains a peaceful state with no history of political violence, urging residents to keep the status of the state as a model of peaceful electioneering.

“We should always lead the path and remain role model of democracy and peaceful electioneering in Nigeria,” he said.

The governor also urged the electorate to build on the successes recorded in previous elections for a successful exercise across the state.

“We must not derail from our very successful and excellent record of conducting peaceful elections in Yobe state.

“We are a united family and politics must never divide us to fight against each other,” Buni said .

Buni assured of state government‘s support to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), security agents and all stakeholders for the success of the elections. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Source: News Agency of Nigeria